An amendment that pretends to ban gay marriage but actually will affect straight people in greater numbers. And it's idiotic.

Did I mention it's stupid?

I'm going to run a PRO Amendment 2 ad here to show you what I mean. The rationale of this ad is, if we let the homos win, we are denying little blonde girls their natural inclination to play wedding with Ken and Barbie. No, I am not making that up:

There are no words. Florida, you've already got image problems, sad to say. If you're in Florida, read this and weep VOTE.

Thursday, October 30

Brace yourselves. This is a televised debate for the office of Fifth Congressional District in Alabama. It is being televised by the CBS affiliate in the district. Are you ready for the first question?

The Democratic candidate does try to get us back to the issues at hand, but he is up against Alabamistan. Which is one reason I got my kids the hell outta there.

And to think I found the late Tim Russert's "what's your favorite Bible verse?" question appalling.

I'm sorry my cellphone camera didn't capture this as it should have. This billboard is in Springfield, Illinois, where Obama announced his candidacy and offically introduced Joe Biden as his running mate.

Wednesday, October 29

First, I want to know, if Governor Palin decries government becoming "the other half of our family" (see last night's Countdown Campaign Comment), why she'd rather the government decide who can get married and who can't?

If I as a straight woman can be in a "relationship" and decide to get married or not to get married, why can't everybody decide one way or the other, without goverment interference?

I love Figleaf: Marriage isn't for everybody (certainly not at every stage of their lives, poor Bristol Palin) but marriage is "for everybody." And should be.

What I got: Joe Biden discovers he could buy 62.5 Armani Suits (at Nieman's, I did the math) with Sarah Palin's GOP clothes budget. And another ten suits with the makeup/hair budget.

And paraphrasing Clusterdouche: "I'd love another debate with Governor Palin, but I refuse to discuss issues of national importance with an eggplant tactfully disguised as someone we should trust with the security of the entire fucking planet."

[Salon tonight. Video blog on hiatus until my cast is off, just before Thanksgiving, they tell me. - BG]

Many thanks to the alert reader who sent me the "how to tie rope panties" video. Kudos to anyone who can take rope and panties and knots and make something so decidedly unsexy.

It's a great video for making a Celtic knot though. I've often thought you could totally fake an Alice Starmore sweater with a little I-cord and a darning needle, if you knew how to tie the thing right.

Sunday, October 26

What with the New York Frackin' Times and all jumping on the bandwagon. But there's one endorsement article I don't think anyone should miss, especially if you're like me. I did not support Obama in the primaries until he became the defacto nominee, and I still have a sense that Obama will be a conservative Democrat in the White House. That concern has been placated by the total insanity of the McCain campaign, of course.

I highly recommend if you feel the same way, that you read Esquire's endorsement of Obama. You won't learn anything, but you'll read an eloquent confirmation of your opinions.

And then there's this...

I mean, just listen to him. He sounds so stable and boring and shit....I think that's what's going to change America, is when bigots realize eighteen months from now that Obama is just so incomprehensibly Presidential to their numb minds, and the color of his skin doesn't make any difference. In that regard, Obama's "competent conservative" (historical similarities to Jackie Robinson, anyone?) may bring the biggest positive change our country has seen in many decades.

On topic, Frank Rich is absolutely right. The bigots are not nearly as numerous as the media says, they're noisy and the existence of even one is embarrassing, but there are not "enough racists in 2008 to flip this election." And I think the next four years are going to "flip" a lot of racists. I hope so.

For my two sisters, who as many of you know have faced serious health problems in their families recently (my broken ankle is nuthin', I tell you).

There are many references in our culture to "three little words" but hearing the ones "it's not cancer" brought such relief to our family yesterday...it's beyond words. My brother in law is still in serious condition and hospitalized but...but....

Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind thoughts. I've said many times when something happened to "other people" that the blogosphere is a family. I feel that very much today. Thanks.

I'll be doing that but that doesn't count because (unless I'm at the hospital with a broken ankle***) I post every day anyway. And write open threads and post music clubs at another little blog. And am a single mom of three kids. And manage to knit a sweater or so a year.

I lived in northwestern PA from 1976-1981. We got, in public school, the first day of doe season and the first day of buck season off as school holidays. Don't get me started about fundamentalist religion.

Clinging to guns and religion? Yeah, I have to admit I saw evidence of that. Bitterness? In the rust belt of Pittsburgh? Hell yeah.

I guess this is similar to people in the North thinking, during the Civil Rights Era, that racism was a problem particular to the deep South. Then busing came to Boston.

Ignorant backwater Amurricans are everywhere, but whether you're Karl Rove or John Murtha, it isn't considered tactful for a public figure to say so.

That said, here is a little map of the Big Ten States (includes Pennsylvania) to cheer us all up. Blue states are now polling heavily toward Obama. Ahem.

The Marquis de Sade, a real sick puppy, wrote about what he considered the worst torture you could inflict on someone. He said that it was to watch a parent watch his/her child suffer.

Not only has my dad been in the hospital for surgery in the past two weeks, but all three of mom and dad's children have had health crises of one kind or another involving hospitals and emergency rooms. My broken ankle is the least serious of everything that's going on, and at least one and possibly both of the other two situations are absolutely dire.

I'm posting a little Ernie Kovacs for my parents, because at this crazy, crazy time, absurdity fits. We don't know why these things happen (or happen all at once), any more than we know why the salad explodes in the video below.

More than once in my own experience it has been proven to me that "trials are proofs of God's care." I'm praying for my family and include my parents in that love.

PS if you are one who prays, my sister has asked specifically for that for her husband, Henry. Thank you.

Wednesday, October 22

But seriously, if the Republican National Committee gave me the job of shopping for Bible Spice (h/t The General) I'd go churchy-on-the-cheap. Marshalls, TJ Maxx, But not Target. Most things at Target are going to be too trendy. She needs more floral prints under her jackets, by the way.

It's not like anyone is taking her seriously anymore, so have some fun with her clothes, and go way below the budget of, ya know, spending on six weeks of clothes what most people spend in 80 years. For real.

Only a Republican would have the hubris, stupidity, and shamelessness to dress her in Nieman's Needless Markup trash. See below, people. Dress with Jacket. Chadwicks.

It's perfectly Republican boring as what she's wearing now, and it's exactly as cheap as the "I've got a penny wedged between my butt cheeks and Vaseline on my teeth" beauty queen we've come to know on the trail.

Tuesday, October 21

UPDATE: Okay I don't know what day of the week it is. I just found out I gotta wear the cast for another month. Yuk. Also, in addition to Junior Dude's bday it's my nephew baby Henry's 4th birthday. I think his Dad still reads this blog. Love on baby Henry, who is not a baby anymore. - BG

I just had to laugh...a commenter at C&L said they couldn't trust Jesus because, you know, he's ARAB.

True dat, but he was conceived out of wedlock in Egypt, which is technically, um...African. Nevermind.

1. With all the old whitey guys saying it was a racial thang, I was waiting all day yesterday for Al Sharpton or somesuch to come out and say Colin Powellisn't black enough to endorse Obama.

2. Brent Scowcroft has been book touring with future Secretary of State (or whatever position he wants) Zbigniew Brzezinski about their co-authored book "Undoing The Total Fuck-up of Bush 43's Foreign Policy for Dummies". Okay it's not called that but it's the same thing. According to Zbig, Snowcroft has not given "any explicit words of support" to McCain. Huffpo adds that Snowcroft "has settled on a policy of 'neutrality' in the presidential contest between Obama and McCain." Yeah.

3. Robert Gates is the current Secretary of Defense, but apparently he was brought in by some Bush 41 cabal folks (replacing Rummy) to temper Junior's ass-holiness. He's been called the only adult in the current cabinet, and it's also reported that he has almost single-handedly put a stop to the "let's invade Iran" talk in the White House. There are even rumors that Obama might keep him on. Keith Olbermann take note: I guess we're not supposed to call him Mister Iran-Contra after that.

4. Does Cheney have the heart (sorry) to vote against his own economic interests? He never has before...

5. Dan Quayle has too much in common with the current Vice Presidential candidate not to support her, plus, she is the only person in the history of the world to make him look competent.

6. James Bakeropenly agreed with Obama's stand of talking to Iran. I'm amazed at how easy it is to find these guys dissing McCain in a public interview, even if it means I'm heavy on the Arianna links. You're welcome for the traffic, Mrs. H.

7. I would spend an extra week in this cast if I could know how Bush 41 is going to vote this year. But I'll bet you my Techorati rating that the McCain mob videos turned his stomach. Those aren't his kind of people, let alone his kind of Republicans. And lots of his friends at The Club will be voting based on a specific understanding of class on November 4. This time, that means voting for the gentleman, rather than for the bum.

Sunday, October 19

C&L shows McCain defending Palin as a counter to the "liberal feminist agenda." Don't talk like that on a Sunday morning, Senator M, I almost wet my bed laughing.

And Chris Wallace was put on this earth as a discipline for my "love everyone" philosophy. I'm failing here, but I keep taking deep breaths. You're a child of God, Chris, but FOX is Satan and you are in that grasp. I'll pray for you like I pray for people who design drab green netting headdresses with ugly clothes underneath:

May God forgive you and protect us from the harm of your actions.

AND THEN he brings up Socialism? Dropping that word as the latest FOX boogeyman? Aw fuck.

I want to talk about corporate medicine, pharmaceuticals, and insurance companies the way conservatives have been talking about UNIONS for years. The conglomerate "health" industries have priced themselves out of the market for taking care of America's health needs. Who is benefiting from the current system? Socialists?

Europeans have health care. But, last ditch effort, if we label what they get as socialism that means we can't have any.

Friday, October 17

I had the privilege in college to have two black roommates. One of them, K, told me the story of a group of girls she knew who tied scarves around their heads in specific knots to say certain encoded things about themselves. One of the girls was wildly derided when she showed up for a meal one day with a headscarf that said, we hope accidentally, "I own everything in the world."

I thought of that woman when I read this article at Motley Fool, an article which made me laugh given the current "volatility of the markets." No one would have questioned the importance of 401K's six months ago, and saving is of course, still important, but the idea that we "can't trust" Social Security and MUST use the old 401K model or face inevitable personal economic disaster? Really, Fools.

The first comment at that article reminded me of the woman with the "own everything" head dress:

If you think the Baby Boomers are going to allow the Government to cut our SS you are crazy. We will have the White House, Capital [sic], and the Pentagon in downtown DC before we allow a cut. Remember we vote and if you think Politicians kowtow to seniors now just wait to we retire en masse.

That commenter does not speak for all boomers or even all retirees. I know one woman who actually wrote to AARP many years ago to cancel her membership, because at that time she felt the organization was founded on generational greed.

I've mentioned before a friend of mine who was born during the first days of the Baby Boom, in 1946. She said that what that meant for her was that every single time she changed from one school level to the next, she had a brand new school building that no one else had ever used before.

The next President will either be in his forties or in his seventies. It looks like the post-boomer is going to win this one, and he's going to have a time with certain members of the preceding generation. Whether it's about "entitlements" (what a word) or even about the election just past (remember the primaries and the generations represented at the end of the Democratic race, ahem), a great many people in that generation have a sense that the world belongs to them. Think about the rhetoric surrounding the 401K/stock market debacle, "MY savings have been ROBBED," not to mention the "stolen primary season" of Terry MacAuliffe Hillary Clinton: as if there should be no risk or responsibility in the stock market or the campaign trail.

Hopefully Obama can take that sense of ownership and translate it into a sense of responsibility. I doubt that will work for an internet commenter who threatens to take over the Pentagon if she doesn't get her monthly direct deposit in full.

Tuesday, October 14

The golden moment runs from the 5:00 mark. Have I mentioned how ashamed I am, me, a good liberal, to admit that I see African Americans, and particularly black men, in a different, more positive light since Obama got the nomination?

We've all got growing in grace to accomplish, don't we...

For Sidney Poitier movies, I actually like A Patch of Blue better, because it makes me cry. I love to cry.

I wanted this to be a movie but since I have to spend an extra couple of hours each day this week (a) deciding if it's worth the risk and effort to go into another room (b) picking up my crutches and standing and (c) actually getting there in thrice the time it ordinarily takes, I am just going to make it a post.

None of these Photoshoppers need any publicity from me, but they are among my favorites (in alphabetical order by blog name) and this is my way of saying thanks for what each of them does.

I noticed when I compiled this list that each of these artists also has the gift of writing well, and that their talent for illustration is often, though not always, in service to their writing genius.

I'm really privileged to be on the Aristocrats masthead for how little I actually contribute there. Not only is Mark the resident photoshopper there, he only occasionally keeps us in line by insisting on original content for the whole blog. I love that. (BTW Zappadan is only a couple months away, folks.)

I've said this to him before, but Darkblack proves the absurd limitlessness of art. Darkblack has very few of the filters that stop other artists from saying what so often just needs to be said. Nuff said.

The Photoshops DG does often have some historical reference, and are done with such precision that...well, is that a little OCD peeking through? Probably. I totally forgive that because his writing blows me away every. single. post.

Another huge community builder and Presidential Candidate in his own right. Zaius is not only at the end of the alphabet, his photoshops are at their own far end of the artistic spectrum. That's a very GOOD thing.

I used to call these guys the Photoshop Six but there are sevens and eights and others out there. Morse at Media Needle has left photoshop for film, and there are other talents out there that I know in my broken bone haze I'm forgetting. If you know who they are, remind me in comments. Thanks.

Sunday, October 12

Am I the only leftist radical out there who thinks, okay a little tongue-in-cheek but still, "what is all this shit about The Weathermen being bad people?" I mean, all they wanted to do was overthrow the Federal Government of the day by any means necessary.

This during a time of unjust war and high crimes among the ruling elites against the Constututional rights of the people. What's wrong with that?

And screw people who think I'm trying to fight the Vietnam War all over again. Like Barack Obama, I was a little kid.

Friday, October 10

If you saw John McCain in your rear view mirror, wouldn't you drive more defensively? And if you wouldn't particularly enjoy sharing the road with one of his age and more importantly, temperament, why would you want him to run the country?

So I've been thinking about just how important blogging is to me and that I'm sitting here with a bum leg, and I could be knitting, but instead I'm here at the laptop (which I would not own without the blogosphere). I'm sitting here looking at other blogs, composing a movie, which will be a tribute to some great photoshoppers I've come to work with and love.

A comment I left at one blog long ago seems worth talking about again. I've edited it a bit because I can, ha.

I've been blogging for almost four years this Election Day.

During that time I joined The Aristocrats, which yes, is a "group" blog, but it's more parallel play in the gifted classroom than interaction on the playground. I drop in and leave a note there when I have time and inspiration. Sandy, Mark, and Paul use that blog as their primary blogging place, and without them it would not exist.

I recently discovered that I had hung out at the record/comic store of Crooks and Liars long enough that they had to make me staff. What's lovely about that is, it really didn't change the traffic flow of this blog a bit. I get just a few hits a day from there. Most of my readers fall in the amazing category of "no referring link": people come here just because. I am in awe of that every single goddamn day.

I sense I'm not posting as many pairs of panties as I did before.

I don't read Eschaton or Digby or Americablog and while I used to think it was because I was a small blog snob, I have visited these more recently and it's not that anymore. I'm like Duncan and everyone else in that I only have so much time to dig into the blogosphere. Blogs are art: I prefer small galleries to huge MFA blockbusters. It's fun to see what artists of every stripe are doing, but your feet get tired after a while (especially on these mofo crutches).

Okay, okay. A couple of weeks ago this enormous envelope arrives in the mail from my friend L.U. Inside it the biggest ass Hello Kitty Birthday Card possible. L.U., a woman after my own heart in so many ways, suggested I use it as a luggage tag when travelling by air, in keeping with the Hello Kitty Airline Travel Death Watch. I think that would be breaking le rules, so I stuck it above my knitting swatch board. She can watch over my knitting samples.

I have a visiting nurse arriving at 11 this morning to arrange for some housework help, especially with laundry since stairs are completely out for me for the next couple weeks. So's driving, and the nurse is available to help with that, too, thank goodness. I hope to be back helping out Crooks and Liars later this weekend. I really miss that.

Thanks for all the kind words and messages of support. The blogosphere is family. I love you guys. Thanks.

Thursday, October 9

I never knew having a broken ankle could be so relaxing (not). But I am trying out "Crippled Mom's Yoga" (Shown: The 'get mommy a popsicle' pose.)

The ex Mister Blue Gal was actually a bit of help this afternoon, got me to the grocery store where I rode around in one of those little granny carts like a scene outta the old Monkees teevee show. And I only tried to run down my ex, oh, twice.

Happy Birthday to my step-daughter V. She's at Cambridge (England) doing amazing post-graduate work in Medieval Literature and we're all very proud of her.

Wednesday, October 8

I fell and broke my ankle yesterday. Required surgery and apparently a metal plate. I guess I'll need a note to go through airport security from now on.

My ex is here for a couple days while the anesthetic wears off (that's the awful part for me, the anesthetic more than the ex...) and after that all the things I do for the three kids will either get done or they won't. I'm going to comb through the services available here and take advantage of whichever ones will have me.

Sorry if posting is a little light during this time...it's a bad time for a blogger to be down, I know.

Lots going on over there today. Sorry for the Dunkin' style posting but don't think for a minute that I'm off the internetz....

I agree with what one commenter said: the "codemonkeys" have done a marvelous job. And since it's still John Amato's blog, it will be the same fine writing and video content as ever. Those who hate change should remember that in three weeks the New C&L will be The Old C&L. It's so funny to read complaints about the "new" font type when that is one thing that stayed exactly the same.

My understanding is that today is for working out the small kinks in certain system issues so if the site loads slowly or has a thang, please be patient. As if you're reading here and not there.

Friday, October 3

I mean, OMG! I can't believe people think SP won on the adorability thing last night! How could anyone think that the cute one was on the other side of the aisle! Just look at that twinkly eye, that smile, that nose! Adorable comes from Delaware (fer sure!) and here, in this exclusive BG interview, is all the proof my readers need!

Joey is hardly new to the political scene. This dreamboat is more than a middle-aged white guy! He visited Casa BG not too long ago and we had a great time. Far from being a loquacious Senator with nothing but a gift for the blah blah blah, Joey showed himself to be a guy from Scranton who took his love for fashion and politics and put them together! The big news is, after the election he secretly hopes to have a clothing line coming out as well as an album and even gave a super cool shoutout about why the DNC platform is unique (it has something to do with the middle class and stuff so check it out!) Here’s what he had to say!

******

BG: So basically we’ll start with, how did you and Obama get together?

Biden: Well, my initial idea was that we would start a singing group to show off some of my clothes and then later design our own clothing line because then we could create jobs by starting a clothing manufacturing company. But then Barack said, "No Way!" Let's like, do the politics first and we can have fireworks and stuff at Mile High Stadium and that might be way easier and I said okay.

BG: So you and Barack are best friends, even though he changed your idea?

Biden: Totally! Sitting day after day in the Senate I was kinda bummed but later I met someone who knew Barack and they introduced us and we became friends.

BG: How was it auditioning for the VP spot? How did you find out about it?

Biden: Actually one of the Senate guys I worked with told me about the Constitutional provision for a "Vice President" and told me to audition so I was like, ‘Okay!’ so I went out there with some other guys and I met all of the Obama team. There was originally five or six of us, I can’t remember. But then we cut down to two. But nevermind, I'm not supposed to talk about her.

BG: So what came first: did he pick you for VP or did you give up on the clothing line idea?

Biden: We met in a TV studio, and we all had to give a speech in front of each other and then we had to watch the video and say what we thought of the other person's clothes and makeup and stuff. It was hard! But afterward Barack and I went out to dinner, a nice place but not TOO nice, we could have fun, too! And we, no joke, clicked together right off the bat. There was no trying to force ourselves to like each other. BFF isn't enough!

BG: Who came up with the whole "kitchen table" thing?

Biden: Well I had written a song with the same name, before we decided against the band/fashion idea. It was gonna be our first single and then after we were like, ‘Huh, ‘kitchen table’ that’s kind of a cool name.’ And we had to go through the whole process of what names were taken because we had to take a name that not only nobody in the McCain campaign had taken but really, nobody in the whole GOP had taken. So we added the "sitting around the" part and we were good!

BG: Usually politicians don't start a clothing line. This is a very unique thing that you guys are releasing yourselves as a presidental ticket and then maybe after you're elected, you'll release the clothing line and produce an album. How’s that working out so far?

Biden: It’s good because you don’t hear it that often. Fashion and a hit single is a hard place to get in to for a guy my age, but hey, I'm younger than McCain by a couple like, decades, so there's that. But like I was saying, the music, which is my number one creative thing, doesn’t just happen right off the bat. It’s hard, you know? and I’m like, ‘wow! Politics and issues and stuff to work with and we’re set!’ And even though we're not "about" fashion and music right now, we have our own styles and we get to wear them and they’re cute!

Have you guys seen Drawger yet? I'm thinking The Photoshop Seven* should post their stuff there.

I especially like the work of Zina Saunders (this one is detail of a larger piece, used here by email permission from the artist). Of course, it's a painting, not a photoshop:

*I'm not going to name the Photoshop Seven here, they're just bloggers I can always count on to do great stuff, and stuff I can steal for the Open Thread. Why not guess who they are in comments? Maybe I've left one or two out.